Churches: Keep out of politics — national poll

A majority of Americans continue to believe that churches and other houses of worship ought to keep out of politics, according to a new national survey by the non-partisan Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain

The survey revealed continued, strong public belief in church-state separation and unease with religion taking center stage in public debate.

The 2012 presidential race, with Republican hopefuls holding forth on contraception and alleging a “war on religion,” has also produced a sharp uptick in the percentage of Americans who feel politicians are talking “too much” about religion.

Two years ago, the Pew survey found that, by a 37-29 percent margin, the public felt its political figures spent “too little” time discussing faith. The figures have flipped, with a 38-30 percent plurality now feeling that politicians are talking “too much” about prayer and religion.

“The number of people who say there has been too much religious talk by political leaders stands at an alltime high since the Pew Research Center began asking the question more than a decade ago,” Pew reported.

The survey, done March 7-11, interviewed 1,503 American adults. They were asked whether churches should “keep out of political matters” or “express their views on social and political questions.”

Fifty-four percent answered keep-out while 40 percent want churches to express their opinions. Sixty percent of Catholics in the survey agreed with the stay-out position.

Not surprisingly, a majority of those who support ex-Sen. Rick Santorum — an outspoken social conservative and public moralist — believe churches should make themselves heard. Fifty-seven percent of Mitt Romney supporters chose “keep out.”

If the poll is to be believed, America’s Catholic bishops face an uphill battle convincing the public — and even their own flock — that there is an attack on “religious liberty” being fomented by the Obama administration.

The poll found 71 percent of Americans believe that the Obama administration is “friendly” (39 percent) or “neutral” (32 percent) toward religion. Just 23 percent believe it is unfriendly, and just 31 percent of white Catholics — despite weeks of letters and homilies and editorials by their bishops.

Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has taken up the attack-on-religious-liberty argument in a March on Life homily, and a bishops’ letter inserted in church bulletins, and in an article for the Catholic Northwest Progress. Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson has also been vocal on the subject.

The state’s four Catholic bishops signed a letter urging opposition to a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, and have given blessing to a referendum campaign to repeal marriage equality.

By a 51-40 percent margin, those surveyed by Pew agreed with the statement: “Religious conservatives have too much control over the Republican Party. By a 41-49 percent margin, they rejected the argument: “Secular liberals have too much control over the Democratic Party.”